Drought's impact on spring bull sales mixed

As drought whittles away at the nation's cowherd, ranchers raising purebred livestock have felt the squeeze as the need for bulls shrinks.

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By Candace KrebsContributing Writer

LA Junta Tribune - La Junta, CO

By Candace KrebsContributing Writer

Posted Apr. 1, 2013 at 12:00 PM

By Candace KrebsContributing Writer
Posted Apr. 1, 2013 at 12:00 PM

LA JUNTA, Colo. — As drought whittles away at the nation's cowherd, ranchers raising purebred livestock have felt the squeeze as the need for bulls shrinks.

"The best way to describe the bull sale we had was the demand was pretty good until we ran out of buyers," summarized John Reid of Ordway, Colo. "Then that was the end of it. Nobody wanted another one."

After their sale in late February, Reid and his son Chip wound up bringing home a third of their Charolais bulls, which they still hope to sell by private treaty.

"People are sitting around and don't want to step out and buy until they see something running down the creek," Reid said. "If we get a little moisture, things could get pretty good pretty fast."

At area production sales, prices have been strong for the high-end bulls, in some cases setting new records. But selling off the low end has been a challenge, confirmed Troy Marshall, owner of Marshall Cattle Company at Burlington.

"I've been to a lot of sales this spring, and it's really been the tale of two markets," he said. "There have been record averages set at a lot of sales. But for that second tier of bulls, it's been a little different. With the drought, there's plenty of bulls to go around, and nearly every sale has hit a wall at some point."

Based on that, Marshall and his wife Lorna were pleased with their own sale, held in mid-March. They sold 20 percent fewer bulls than the previous year, offering 85 lots, but ended up averaging around $5,000 for each and grossing more money than they had the previous year. "Every one of them sold, and the prices weren't spread out as much," he said. "But I think our sale was kind of an anomaly."

Future sales will likely benefit from weather patterns that seem to be improving, he added.

"Attitudes have changed a lot in the last three weeks," he said. "At least we're seeing some hope."

Brad Ridinger, manager of the Jumping Cow Ranch and owner of his own purebred herd, had to postpone and reschedule his sale for Saturday, March 30, after a storm dumped up to 16 inches of snow on the ranch north of Ramah.

"We've had a lot of people calling to find out if we are still having our sale," he said. "Having some moisture on the ground might make people more excited about getting some bulls to put back on their cows. We'll cross our fingers and see what happens."

At Pritchett, Colo., Mark Crane said winter moisture had been minimal there.

Still, he was pleased with his Black Gold Cattle Company's late March production sale. "Our bulls brought $300 more on average than last year, so that was a good surprise," he said. "I had enough good customers who are finding a way to make it through. They are hanging on to some cows, so they have to have some bulls."

Page 2 of 2 - But he added, "I've heard a lot of mixed sales reports. It's kind of a tough year."

John Williams of Boise City, Okla., has been raising Charolais seedstock in the panhandle for 42 years and said the drought was definitely presenting challenges for him.

"We haven't had any precipitation here," he said. "It just barely turned the ground white on top and that's it. People are waiting to see if they get moisture to figure out whether they'll be selling cows or buying bulls."

To expand his market beyond the drought zone, Williams started advertising his bulls on the Internet this year, so far with minimal success.

"Most people don't want to drive that far to look at a bull," he said.

Asked if the drought had adversely affected the popularity of the big-framed continental breed that caught his favor while he was still in high school, he said he had seen no signs of that.

"Most people are still paid by weight," he said. "It seems like those who got into Angus real big are wanting Charolais again."

Harold Sidwell, part of a ranching family that has been raising registered Herefords at Carr, Colo., since 1908, said sales had started off slow, with the earliest calls coming from the Western Slope, where ranchers were "snowed under" with spring precipitation.

For his part, he thought the drought had been good for the popularity of the British breeds. In fact, he and his family are so optimistic about the future and pleased with how demand for Hereford cattle has rebounded that they are thinking about starting up a spring bull sale again next year. The Sidwells held regular production sales up until 1981, when they switched to selling by private treaty.

"An auctioneer can kind of work on people a little bit and get another hundred dollars for a bull," he said. "We're excited about doing it again."

In an odd way, the same drought that is taking a bite out of current sales is also fueling buyers' willingness to invest in top quality bulls. From Burlington, Marshall, who is a contributor to Beef Magazine in addition to running the ranch, said the positive long-term outlook in the cattle industry was helping push more bulls into the $5,000 to $10,000 range — even among commercial buyers — as cattlemen invest in what they see as promising times ahead.

"I think most everybody agrees the supply and demand fundamentals have never looked better," he said. "Cow numbers are so tight that it will take four or five years at least before we can increase production significantly. From a price standpoint, that's very, very optimistic. Everyone is just waiting for the opportunity to take advantage of it."